Magyar László szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 174-177. (Budapest, 2001)

TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - Máthé-Shires László: Who Lives Where? British Anti-Malaria Policy in Southern-Nigeria (1899-1912)

nineteenth century. This was the conclusion reached by Philip Curtin for the first half of the century and the same was suggested by Dummet and Gale for later decades.

4 The problem of malaria appeared as a manageable obstacle around the turn of the century, following the scientific discoveries of Ross, Laveran, Grassi and Manson partially.

5 The associated public image in Britain was the 'White Man's Grave' for West Africa that entrenched itself in the first half of the nineteenth century, and survived the initial phases of scientific approach to malaria in the 1850s, 1860s and 1870s.

6 The period of imperial scramble brought no substantial change in the British public perception about this previously valid deadly climate of the region.

7 Although literature is still very scarce on health in the early phases of colonialism, it appears to be clear that the initial period of British colonial policy represented a development in colonial medicine.

8 As Gale, and much later Roberts argue, colonial medical authorities responded to epidemics like yellow fever in 1911 or plague in 1908 with great vigour that brought about major reforms in medical policies.

9 Endemic diseases that did not take epidemic forms were not in the focus of colonial medical and political authorities. This was especially true for malaria that remained a predominantly European disease despite the fact that its effect on African mortality, especially on child mortality was already known in Lagos, for example in 1899.

10 The policy of sanitary segregation was the most important aspect of British imperial anti-malaria policy in West Africa between 1900 and the 1920s.

11 The two case studies of Lagos and the Protectorate in Southern Nigeria describe the antagonism of early colonial regimes in the region, highlighting on one hand the role of individuals, and on the other hand, pointing towards the complexities within the colonial administration in regards to Africans and the colonial territory. Sanitary segregation was initiated as a protective measure for Europeans from malaria and the possible carriers of the disease, Africans. The idea 4 Curtin, Phillip.D. The Image of Africa. (Madison 1965), Dummet, RE. 'The campaign against malaria in British West Africa'

, African Historical Studies, I. 2. (1968), 153—97. and Gale, Thomas S. 'Official medical policy in British West Africa 1870—1930' (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of London, 1972—73) 5 For a brief treatment of the birth of malariology, see Dobson, M. J., 'The malariology centenary', Parassitologia 41 (1999), 21—32. 6 Máthé-Shires, László, "Imperial nightmares: The British image of 'the deadly climate' of West Africa, c. 1840—1874", European Review of History — Revue européenne d'Historié, 8.2 (2001), 137—156. 7 For details on the period between 1874 and 1900, see my forthcoming PhD thesis in 2002 at the ELTE Budapest, titled: T wouldn't go there if I were you: the British imperial experience with malaria in West Africa, 1895—1925' 8 The most extensive assessment of the problem is still Gale's unpublished PhD dissertation written in the early seventies. 9 Gale, 'Official medical', 247—259. See also Roberts, 'The Black Death' 10 Half of the annual African mortality (2,200 people in 1899) represented children who mostly died as a result of 'fevers'. Quoted by Joyce, RB., Sir William MacGregor. (London, 1971), 225. 11 The articles indicating this are Dummet, 'The campaign', Curtin, Philip D. 'Medical knowledge and urban planning in tropical Africa', American Historical Review. 90(1985), 594—613.; Frenkel, Stephen — Western, John, 'Pretext or Prophylaxis? Racial Segregation and Malarial Mosquitoes in a British Tropical Colony: Sierra Leone' Annals of the Association ofAmerican Geographers, 78(2) (1988), 211—228.; Gale, Thomas, 'Segregation in British West Africa' Cahiers D'études Africaines, 80, vol. xx. (1980), 4

e Cahier and Goerg, Odile, 'From Hill Station (Freetown) to Downtown Conakry (First Ward): Comparing French and British Approaches to Segregation in Colonial Cities at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century', Canadian Journal of African Studies, 32(1) (1998), 1—31.